>> the leaders of the world's two largest economies today broke a lengthy chill today. and where it will go from here will play out with days and weeks to come. for now, the first chapter written, the news continues with kaitlan collins and the source. >> tonight, straight from the source. joe manchin is an outgoing senator, but is he also an outgoing democrat? i asked him that question directly tonight as he now says that he would absolutely consider a bid for the white house, while also insisting that he's not going to be a spoiler. plus, president biden just wrapped up a crucial press conference in san francisco after meeting with china's president and -- questions about israel's war and hamas backing up israel's claim that there was a hamas command and control center beneath the biggest hospital in gaza. and nikki haley now partially walking backup campaign pledge made just yesterday after setting off a firestorm over suggesting a ban on an ominous social media users. i'm kaitlan collins, and this is the source. tonight, we begin with our one-on-one with senator joe manchin, who is not running for reelection in the senate, but is considering running for president. amid a lot of speculation about what he has planned next, manchin is now opening a knowledge-ing that he is absolutely considering a potential run for president. he's also dismissing concerns, a lot of them coming out of the white house right now, but he could be a spoiler for president biden. manchin's imminent departure from the senate is also threatening to shake up the balance of power on capitol hill. democrats there have a slim two seat majority of the senate. let's go straight to the source tonight. joining me now is democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia. senator, thank you for being here. obviously, senator schumer -- >> first of all, thanks for having me, caitlin, appreciate it. >> thank you for being here, for your time. you know as well as i do, senator schumer really want to do to run again, but you announced that you are not gonna be doing shot. do you think democrats can keep the senate majority without you? >> is the thing. everyone is worried about the majority so much, and i understand that, because it does set the committees and sets the agenda. but the bottom line is -- it takes 60 to pass something. every senator has a tremendous amount of power, whether you're in the majority or the minority. the majority is always the best place to be, and we'll see. we have john test with us, he's good people, i wish him well. >> a lot of key races. you talked a lot new time about bipartisanship in the senate, senator mitch mcconnell once praised to you for saving the filibuster, which he said preserved at the senate. but then he flew to west virginia and directly recruited your most formidable challenger. do you feel betrayed by that? >> that's politics, you know. this is not the most honorable profession in the world anymore. with that said, it's all about the next election, and it's all about the party system. kaitlan, that's the problem. the business of politics has gotten so big because the business model is a democrat business and republican business. and israelis forgot about the people to a certain extent. so all they want is 51 or greater to be in the majority. and then, they do so much damage trying to get there that when they do get their, they're not even close to 60. but if you want to get something done, you have to get 60. so it's just a horrible situation when every time you are in cycle, you're up, it could be one of your better friends on the other side, if you have a d by your name or an are on your name, you're supposed to be against the person on the other side no matter who it is. and it never used to be like that. they tell us way back when, they used to be an unwritten rule. and, now this is fair game, and there's no way -- where we come from, whether it be alabama or west virginia, that you try to get someone fired every day, you go to work and expect they're gonna be your next best friend next week. it doesn't work. >> the kind of makes it sound like -- are you gonna leave the democratic party? >> you know, i don't know -- i've never considered myself a washington journal crap. i've been a very independent person. and i don't really -- >> that sounds like you are leaving. >> well now, you have a dnr by your name, but it should not identify who you are. if you change who you are because you have the, then you have an hour, a lot of people go back and forth, it's more for the pull persons political than who the person is. no matter what i have by may, i have independent thinking, i vote independently, of always done that for 40 years. so we will see. i know what you are saying, but we will see, i have not gotten there yet. >> but you still considering that? >> sure. sure, you always consider that. absolutely. >> is it likely that you're gonna leave the democratic party? >> i'm sure they'll be happy. they might throw me out soon, who knows. they do me a favor. i don't know. >> since you made your announcement last week, have you spoken to president biden? >> i have not spoken to him. i got a nice note from him and everything, he's been traveling quite a bit. i spoke to steve brush eddie in the white house, and he's very close to the president. so i am sure that we will be talking. >> what did you make of his statement that he did put out? he basically was tying you to all of his bigger complements that he's had an office. seems like he was sending a pretty clear message with that statement. >> well, the clear message is this. nothing would've happened without bipartisanship, and i've been -- leading the charge on bipartisanship on every piece of legislation. and i'm happy that they think some of us did good. i've not been pleased and how they are trying to basically implement, especially the i.r.a., and i've been keeping and holding the feet to the fire on that. but we have done some great things. and we did that basically with a 50/50 senate. that 50/50 senate, it was started by bipartisanship -- susan collins, mitt romney, just a bunch of us got together, and we just worked on all those bills. the electoral count act, we want to make sure this never happen again, this insurrection that we saw on january the 6th, and then you go down the line. bipartisan infrastructure. bipartisan infrastructure bill was pulled out -- i pulled that out of the bibi because it was something we truly had to have. we haven't fixed any of our infrastructure and 30 years. when you look at that, and you look at all the things that we've done -- >> yeah. >> it was an unbelievable stretch. >> you've said you are proud of that legacy, not just what you've accomplished for the people of west virginia, but the question is, what you're going to do next. and you are very clearly exploring a third party run. but are you worried that the third party run for the white house could damage that legacy, potentially? >> well, let me just say this. everyone's talking about a third party run. i'm talking about basically trying to resurrect the middle. the moderate middle. the sensible, common sense middle. and right now, i don't care what you say or what people might be thinking. they're telling me that we've had enough. we can't take it. it's just so much visceral, you know? when you have donald trump basically normalizing the attacks on human beings every day, you, know anybody who doesn't agree with him, he's after. and i've said this. the country would be in a horrible situation, challenging our democracy, if he got reelected. and i've said this very clearly. he believes that truly, the only fair election is the one he wins. he believes that the law only applies to everybody but him. and he attacks anybody who doesn't agree with him. and he uses his horrible analogies of so many get americans, just because they might not be in his bandwidth, if you will. so it would be horrible on that, and no truly concern for the rule of law, who we are as americans, what we're about. and that's the thing we're talking about. having to a certain extent on president biden -- is not the person we thought was getting elected, being a centrist and moderate. he's been pushed so far to the left. so if we have this movement in the middle, maybe we can pull people back to a common sense middle where they can govern. and this is a long run, it's not just for the next election. we're in this, we have americans together, and my daughter is taking that -- we're gonna help people anywhere we find them. democratic or republican, it wants to where -- >> senator manchin, with what you just said there about donald trump, and then you said you believe joe biden, that president biden has been pushed to five to the left, i mean, which one do you think is a bigger threat to america,? >> donald. well, donald trump, i think, we would lose democracy as we know it. he has no regard whatsoever for the rule of law, what we are as a country, basically the orderly transfer of power. and so, so much problems as far as within our system that he has no regard whatsoever. >> but that's the white house argument as well as to why they don't believe he should run. because they believe if you did, you take votes from biden and helped reelect donald trump. >> let me just tell you, i'm not gonna be a spoiler. i'm not looking for any spoilers. but i'm looking for basically how we're gonna govern this country, caitlin, from the middle. you cannot run your life from the extremes. you're not gonna be successful. it'll be very difficult. you're not gonna have a successful business if you're in extremes, and you can't continue to run this country. you can have open borders, you can't have run away that, you can't have the problems we have, the challenges, crime, all the things we've got a fight. we've got two of our allies fighting for their life in israel and ukraine right now that we're trying to prevent ourselves from getting pulled into a war. there's so much going on. president biden has worked well overseas with our nato allies, i think he's done a good job. right now, it's gonna be very serious, but we've got to get our financial house in order, you've got a secure our borders, and also, on top of that, we have an awful lot of people coming here that need to have work visas so they can pay their own way and pay taxes. rather than just sucking off the system. >> you just said you never want to be a spoiler. how and when would you know if that's the case? >> i think, you know, as they said before, this is the long run. where out they're basically trying to say, hey, are you happy with what's going on? what did you leave? i have a lot of friends who left. why did you leave so early? are they just frustrated with the system? i know the answer, but i'm saying, i want them to be more public. and if they can come out and start talking about what they saw, what was wrong, and what had to be fixed, then we can start building from that core again. and right now, there's not that many in the middle. you know that. not that many centrists. it, say i'm not sure how they're gonna vote. we pretty much know most of them are gonna vote party line, whether it be democrat or republican. they never did know from me, because obviously, i look at the issue, and i was gonna vote what i thought would help my country, my state, and i can go home and explain it. and if i couldn't explain it, i don't care what the democrats come after me or republicans. i wasn't gonna support something or be against something just because they wanted me to do it. i won't do that. >> but you said you very clearly not gonna vote for donald trump. you said it would be bad for democracy if he is reelected. and you said you want president biden to make changes if you're gonna support him. what changes, exactly, do you want to see from the white house? >> well, first of all, we don't know who -- we just have suspected that it looks as if we'll have a rematch. but we don't know where that's going to go. and the bottom line is that i believe that president biden has been pushed to the left. he feels like that's where the base of the party, where he thinks he has to go. how many times have they spoken about the inflation reduction act as being an energy security? have they ever said -- 230 billion dollars of that. >> are you saying you don't think president biden should run again? >> oh, i'm not asking you telling anybody what to do. my goodness, no. i'm hoping that they see that there's a movement, and he can come back to where he started from. that's the election that was going in 2020. or anybody else. i wanna make sure that we have a movement of senators that will bring democrats and republicans that will be happy to be in the middle, because they have support. -- centrist, moderates. >> do you think that joe biden could beat donald trump if that is the rematch? >> i can't predict. because you know it, i never believe any poll. the only poll i believe is election day poll. i'm seeing all kinds of numbers, as you are. i can't predict that. >> who would you vote for? >> it looks very challenging right now. i'm gonna wait and see who we have in this. let's see what happens. there's a lot to happen. >> when you're making your decision on whether to enter the race by super tuesday? >> well, super tuesday, that's been set. basically, super tuesday is when you're gonna know exactly who the candidates are gonna be by the respective parties. the democrat, republican business machine is gonna make that termination what they're gonna do. and you'll have both of them clinging to the extremes. >> how do you make your determination? >> well, that's when anything would be starting, if those people that we have someone that's gonna run for the middle, or move into the middle, and make a run -- that's probably when it will start. i would assume, because there's no need to start before that. you don't have to be in the primary. so, again, i want to tell you. this is the long haul. this is beyond the 2024 election. this is 26 and 28. this is basically getting people to understand. there is support. the people want you to make reasonable, responsible decisions, not be -- party line votes. you know, it's just awful, the way that we have kind of just shoved people to their respective corners, and expect that's the way we're gonna have democracy and have any type of leadership position. because i can tell you, if we don't get our act together, when you saw yesterday, the behavior, and these are good people, i know them all, how they got themselves worked into a frenzy like that, where they wanted to fight, calling each other names -- this is not a banana republic. it's not a third world country. this is the united states of america. people are looking at us for leadership, kaitlan. they're looking for us as a superpower of the world to show them how civility, how democracy, how freedom, how you maintain it. >> senator joe manchin, as always, thank you for your time. >> thanks, caitlin. i appreciate being with you. >> you heard senator manchin there saying he doesn't think he would be a spoiler. if he does enter the presidential race, though there's a question about the history of what third-party beds have often done. jamal simmons -- here to break down that entire interview with their thoughts, and trust me, they have thoughts. that's right after this. plus, also, you just saw president biden in san francisco wrapping up a crucial meeting with the chinese president and taking questions on israel. those highlights ahead. >> you just heard from senator joe manchin, his first interview with cnn since the announcement that he is not running for reelection, sharing his thoughts tonight on president biden, a possible second term for former president trump, and whether or not he is considering leaving the democratic party altogether. joining me now is jamal simmons, the former deputy assistant to president biden, the former -- communications director to vice president harris, also here is cnn political commentator -- >> advisor to no one ever. >> advisor to us all, actually. really, our wise advisor. he worked in the white house. >> share. >> how do you think they took those comments from senator manchin there? >> i'm just gonna take them the way they take everything with senator manchin, which is the wait and see. let's wait and see what he does. there's a little bit of a theater to joe manchin in the beginning, when he kind of dances as if he might not be there. but you can get him to a good place by the time the processes of a. i think he's a democrat. he's actually a legitimate democrat. he's been democrat his entire life. the question is, does he feel like there's something in it for him running for president other than just supporting joe biden? i've gotta say, he says the president has been pushed to fire, so i'm not sure exactly what it does he means. he passed a lot of bipartisan legislation. joe manchin was a part of all that. he talked about some of it, including what we're seeing right now with israel. but he's not catering to the left. he's actually catering to a fairly centrist position. i'm just not share what the too far to the left biden looks like. >> the left would disagree. student loan debt, israel -- what do you think of the comments about not just, that he seemed worried about what donald trump's second term would be to democracy. very clear what he thought. but the question in the white house complaint is that you can potentially help with that. >> -- great job. i was confused by what joe manchin was saying. i think he correctly identified a lot of problems. the extremism on both wings of the party being one, the threat that donald trump is to democracy. all that's true, the lack of civility. i'm not sure what he's proposing to do about it himself. because he's not telling us if he's running, he's just saying we'll be here in the middle. for what? the other problem i have is, i don't know who joe manchin's fans are. he was popular in west virginia, although not popular enough now to win reelection. he is unpopular enough to win reelection in west virginia even if he leaves the democratic party. so, i'm not -- who are mentions constituents? if he is contemplating a run. and then, of course he would be a spoiler. of course he'd be a spoiler. with someone like joe biden, whose poll numbers are not >> but that doesn't seem to be -- i mean, if he runs, he's making it sound like he's gonna leave the democratic party. he didn't say yes, outright, of course, we pressed mom it multiple times, and he made it very clear what he thinks about the democratic party, at least in washington post. >> yes. and i think, obviously, if he does, that's an indication that he wants a future in politics. because there's no point to leaving the party if you're going to leave office and just stay the democrat that you believe you are. so i think if we do see that switch, clearly, he thinks that he's got a future either running for president or in some, you know, as a third party voice for maybe future elections. he's a prolific fund-raiser. in the past five years, he raised money from 50 billionaires, with a b. corporations love him, fox news loves him, he's got a lot more fans on the right than he did on the left anymore, so maybe he wants to be a fundraising juggernaut. he doesn't have no future in politics. i'm just not sure he's got a future as the president. >> let me just say this. i think it's also pretty exciting to be booed by everyone. right? everyone wants him to jump in. everyone wants to see which way are gonna vote. the minute you decide to run for president and it doesn't work out, the wooing ends. and i think there are politicians like joe manchin who are very aware that there's a moment where they lose the sexy. and i'm not sure he wants to d